Portable winch ratchet dog

In a portable winch having a drum and ratchet wheel mounted upon a frame for rotation about an axis, a hand lever pivoted upon said frame for rotation about said axis, tension transmitting means wound upon said drum, a releasable stop pawl pivotally mounted upon said frame engaging said ratchet wheel permitting unidirectional rotation of said drum, the improvement comprising a ratchet dog, a pivot pivotally mounting said ratchet dog upon said hand lever for pivoting between an operative position engagable with said ratchet wheel and an inoperative position clearing said ratchet wheel during pivoting of said hand lever about said axis, an elongated closed spring anchor slot defined on said dog having spaced first and second spring receiving portions, a spring anchor defined on said hand lever, said slot being located between said pivot and said spring anchor, a tension spring having a first end directly slidably received within said slot and a second end attached to said anchor, and a spring shifter comprising a member pivotally mounted on said pivot directly engaging said spring first end adjacent said slot selectively shifting said spring first end within said slot between said first and second spring receiving portions, an opening defined in said spring shifter member receiving said spring first end, said anchor, spring receiving portions and pivot being so related that positioning said first spring end at said first spring receiving portion misaligns said spring first end from a straight line relationship between said pivot and spring anchor to produce a biasing force which pivots and maintains said dog at said operative position and positioning said first spring end at said second spring receiving portion misaligns said spring first end from a straight line relationship between said pivot and spring anchor to produce a biasing force which pivots and maintains said dog at said inoperative position.